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Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs

a travel blog by phileasdogg

I'm travelling to some places, taking some photos, eating and drinking local stuff, trying to keep it down, talking to people then travelling somewhere else. Oh, and writing about it. Maybe. If I remember.

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Trekking. Or maybe not.

Abu Road, India

Mt Abu is a major pilgrimage centre, but because of its remote, forested location, also offers good walking and wildlife spotting opportunities including bears, cobras, wild boars and hyenas. So I went to see the local trekking guru, the improbably-named Charles, and he said he'd take me out in the morning for a few hours. He was going through the drill when I picked out some line about "don't bring any valuables, local tribe murdered a tourist in February." Perhaps sensing my apprehension, another guy smiled and said "Tourist was not with Charles, tourist was lonely. You are being safe with Charles." No disrespect to Charles, but he's about 5ft 3 and 9 Stone dripping wet. It would be like being protected by Paul Daniels, and at least he might be able to turn my would-be assailant into a rabbit. Anyway, the rains came and we couldn't go out anyway.

Udaipur tomorrow, a mere 4-5 hours away by bus.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on September 22, 2008 from Abu Road, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
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Venice. Not.

Udaipur, India

Udaipur. The Venice of the East. Just without the gondolas. Or canals. Or Cornettos. But it's actually quite nice. Fairly peaceful (these things are all relative) and a bit cooler. The focal point is Lake Pichola, and the two man-made islands on it. One is Jagmandir Island, which is home to a royal palace built by the Maharaja in 1620. And the other is Jagniwas Island, upon which stands the outstanding Lake Palace hotel, where one can sip Cristal by a white marble pool underneath a mango tree for a trifling US$450 a night (cheapest room). And impressive enough for parts of Octopussy to be filmed there. And boy do you know about it. Just about every hotel in town shows screenings of Octopussy. Every night. I don't want to rain on their parade, but it wasn't even a good Bond movie. Roger was knocking on a bit. "Bond. James Bond. Licence to suck on a Werther's Original."

The journey here took 6 hours by bus, and I kid you not, three-quarters of it was on a road that was still being built. And it was in its early stages. So essentially it was 4 hours driving on a buiding site. And today I've got 16 hours on a sleeper bus to Bombay. Please can I have some tarmac for that one.

Met up with a great pair of Aussies for dinner the other day and we decided to give Indian wine a bash. A cheeky little number, with shades of balsamic vinegar washing over the palate fused with hints of Dettol and Toilet Duck. Think I'll stick to the Kingfisher from here on in.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on September 25, 2008 from Udaipur, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
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Animals

Udaipur, India

Not sure why, but it suddenly occurred to me last night that there was one animal I haven't seen since being here. I've seen most creatures that stepped onto Noah's Ark in the last couple of weeks - camels, elephants, deer, assorted rodents, enough dogs to feed China for a month, and thousands of cows. But not one cat. Maybe that's related to the fact that there's a malnourished feral dog on every street corner, but it still seemed odd. Still, I'm sure I'll struggle through the next few weeks sans mog.

And speaking of animals, the whole cow thing is just surreal. They are literally everywhere. Wandering aimlessly around markets, on main roads, up alleyways, everywhere. Now I know they're sacred to Hindus so can't be killed or harmed, but frankly they're such emaciated, disease-ridden, hapless looking creatures that it would be far kinder to take a bolt gun to them. Not that I'd be carving a steak off them. "Would monsieur like ze fillet steak? Our cows come from ze inner city of Delhi, feeding off a diet of cardboard and plastic waste, and drinking from ze open sewers." I think I'll have the omelette thanks garcon.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on September 25, 2008 from Udaipur, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
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Taboo or not taboo

Udaipur, India

There aren't many conversational taboos out here. Strangers will happily ask how old I am, how much money I earn, but they seem most interested in my relationship status. Here's a verbatim conversation that a local guy struck up with me in a cafe yesterday.

Him: So you are married?
Me: No, I'm single.
Him: But you have girlfriend?
Me: No, no girlfriend.
Him: So you have boyfriend?
Me: Not one of them either.
Him: How long you stay in India?
Me: About 7 weeks.
Him: And you are making sex with Indian girls?
Me: Excuse me?
Him: You are looking to make lots of sex with Indian girls?
Me: Erm, it's not exactly top of my list of priorities.
Him: I am liking to make sex with white girls, but they are not liking Indian men so much.
Me: Uh-huh (not wishing to point out that it was more likely his absence of teeth and direct approach that they found off-putting)
Him: From which country girls are you most liking making sex with?
Me: Waiter, bill please.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on September 25, 2008 from Udaipur, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
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The old colony

Mumbai, India

Remind me NEVER to take a sleeper bus in India again. 16 hours from Udaipur to Mumbai on the top bunk of an aging Volvo bus on bumpy roads with the driver either sounding the horn or braking sharply (more often both) every 5 minutes.

Anyway, Mumbai is positively space age compared to most of Rajasthan. I've seen shops with glass fronts, a dog that's actually owned by someone, cars that look like they might pass an MOT, and I even experienced a hot shower. Crazy. There's certainly a strong colonial feel to it, with Victorian architecture all over the place, albeit in a slightly delapidated state. I was told I MUST see Victoria Terminus, the main train station (with 2.5 million people a day going through it), but frankly it looked like St Pancras after a battering with cannons and assorted light weapons.

So I'm joining up with an overland truck tour here that takes me round to Chennai over the course of the next 3 weeks. I'm about ready for someone else to take responsibility for travel and accommodation arrangements, and early signs are that it's a good group, although the truck is not in the greatest of health. It's a 25-year-old Mercedes that has done a few too many Miles and on the last leg from Delhi to Mumbai the transmission and one of the springs gave up. So the drivers are having a spare part flown in from England and limping the truck down to Goa to fit it while we all have to take the train. Great! Just when I thought I'd seen the last of Indian public transport. Ah well...

permalink written by  phileasdogg on September 30, 2008 from Mumbai, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
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Peace at last

Goa, India

Ah, this is more like it. Empty beach, warm sea, cold beer and fresh seafood. After another snail ride on public transport (320 Miles in 14 hours) we docked in Goa, and managed to find a quiet resort away from the main tourist areas. It's right at the start of the season anyway so fairly quiet but this place is great - just have to share the beach with local fishermen and a herd of cows. There weren't enough rooms for us on the first night so me and Londoner Gary chivalrously offered to pitch a tent on the beach and kip there. The theory of beach camping is better than the reality but hey, those brownie points can be redeemed later.

Went into the nearest tourist town yesterday but very glad to not be staying there - full of Westerners with dreadlocks, Henna tattoos and beards (not the women) who are just, like, loving the way these Indian dudes are just like, so in touch with their inner spirituality man. I suspect what they really like is that they can get stoned every day for about 50 rupees.

Anyway, there's high excitement within the team today. Not only has the spare part for the truck arrived in Delhi, but we're having a pig roast on the beach tonight. Woohoo. Strangely the two vegetarians are less excited about this, but they can have the crackling - that's not meat.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 3, 2008 from Goa, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
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You're gonna need a bigger boat

Goa, India

There I was, just innocently frolicking in the surf at Goa, when I stepped down and something moved beneath my foot. And then bit it. Hard. It damn well hurt. Having got back to shore there was a reasonably steady flow of blood spouting forth from the wound, so after a splendid spot of bandaging administered by Nina, one of my fellow truck riders, we decided to sample the Indian healthcare system. Apart from waiting for a ridiculously long time at Casualty check-in desk (well, there was one other patient), it was a thoroughly impressive performance. A couple of nurses cleaned it up then in came a doctor in flip-flops, anaesthetized it, cleaned it up and put a stitch in, then the nurse bandaged it up and we were on our way. With a bill for 15 quid. Bargain. Although it was agony when the anaesthetic wore off – I was writhing around on my bed wimpering like a baby. Anyway, all well now.

The same can’t be said of the truck sadly. Needless to say the part being flown from the UK still hasn’t arrived and the Indian mechanics working on it in Goa made such a mess of putting the rear suspension back together that after 180 kms to Jog Falls a couple of bolts had popped out and one strut was hanging considerably lower than the other. According to driver Dan it was putting a lot of pressure on the rear axle and it could have snapped which would have caused the truck to roll. So that’s good!

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 4, 2008 from Goa, India
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Back on the road

Sagar, India

So after 6 days on this overland truck trip I finally get a ride on the truck. And in spite of it being 25 years old with dodgy suspension and the roads being like Swiss cheese (except it's tarmac instead of cheese and craters instead of holes) it was actually quite a comfortable 180km ride to Jog Falls, India's highest waterfall. Though that's a bit like saying Holland's highest mountain. No, that's a bit unfair, they were quite high and I imagine in monsoon season they'd be quite impressive. But there wasn't much water coming off it today. I've rinsed my toothbrush in more ferocious cascades. And the small community serving it seems to consist of 5 omelette shops and little else. The menu on the omelette shop that I went for was...

Plain omelette
Omelette with tomato
Omelette with onions
Omelette with tomato and onions

A limited menu, but boy they knew how to cook their omelettes. It was so good I had two. Indulgent I know, but I am on holiday.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 5, 2008 from Sagar, India
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Day of rest

Hassan, India

Plan was to go on to Mysore for some temple viewing today but apparently there's a 10-day festival on there and as we all remember from our nativity plays, if you don't book in advance, you don't get accommodation. And Mysore has no mangers. So we've driven to Hassan, about 40km from Mysore and the eager templephiles among us can do a day trip there. I'm not one of them. I'm templed out. So it's a day of rest for me and about half of the party. Hassan is a thoroughly unremarkable town of 120,000. I can't think of a single thing to say about it so I won't. All I will say is that 250km in a day is too much on Indian roads. Left at 10am and arrived at 8pm. Driver Dan is doing a top job - seems to have boundless energy for a man who exists on Sprite and Marlboro Lights.

Onwards towards Kerala tomorrow.

CORRECTION - there is something (vaguely) interesting about Hassan. The name of this hotel.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 7, 2008 from Hassan, India
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The long and grinding road

Coimbatore, India

OK, so I was wrong about 250km being too much in a day. Yesterday we set off at 7am, and 16 hours and 540km later arrived in Coimbatore. Then spent the next hour wandering around the ghost town trying to find anywhere open to get food, or beer, or soft drinks, or even water. Finally managed to get some Sprite, so that was a tasty dinner! For those who were up for it, there was then a 4-hour round trip to a tea Plantation starting at 7am, but I just couldn't face it, especially as we've got another 220km to do in the truck this afternoon. So it's TV, book and food for me. Exciting times.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 9, 2008 from Coimbatore, India
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